ARGENTINA V IRAN
Guest referee:
Conor Behan — Music writer and DJ
Gustavo Corvalán — 'Yo No Se Mañana' (The Voice)
“As you well know, The Voice 'airs' in various territories, offering Ricky Martin and Seal work in Australia and allowing Christina Aguilera to give Justin Bieber stank-eye in America. Of course it's not just English language territories that have taken to the show — Argentina are just one of many countries to get involved. La Voz Argentina only ran for one 'season' (series) in 2012 but this performance by winner Gustavo Corvalan is actually pretty impressive. The opening VT is standard talent show fluff with Gustavo flinging bricks around at his day job, playing with his kid etc. But it's when he begins to perform that you can see pop charisma trickle out. The shy, slightly dull character of the VT is replaced with someone who can use the slightest hip swivel to send the female members of the audience into hysterics. He croons his way through 'Yo No Se Manana', previously a hit for Latin pop star Luis Enrique, and it's actually kind of wonderful. I feel like a One Direction stan on Twitter bleating things about "my ovaries" as Corvalan does his easy-going sex god schtick, but it’s quite something. Despite the big TV stage his performance is pared back enough to let those hips do the talking. Post performance the screaming ladies are encouraged by a judge repeatedly talking about "la chicas" and Gustavo's impact on them.”
Googoosh Music Academy — 'To Daryayi'
“Iranian superstar Googoosh already has a significant following in her homeland and across the Middle East, which gives the fact that she's head judge and head of an 'academy' on a reality TV show named after her sort of understandable. While the story behind the series is interesting — it's shown in Iran via a London-based satellite channel — this group track from the 2012 contestants is pretty dreary stuff. It splits the male and female performers, with the first segment featuring a series of slightly dreary blokes doing seriousface all over the place alongside arty silhouettes. It picks up with the female performers who seem to have a bit more zest — they include one woman doing some serious opera notes and a young, faintly-Rihanna esque type who has plenty of charisma. Throw in some dodgy video production values and a plodding melody and it’s all pretty tough going to be honest. Mind you, it's still a bit more bearable than an X Factor group single for charity, tune-wise, even if that isn't saying an awful lot."
Conor's full time score:
Argentina 4 — Iran 0
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